A Palestinian woman supporting the Islamic Jihad movement holds a copy of the Koran as another holds a knife during a rally in Gaza City to show solidarity with Palestinians confronting Israelis in the West Bank and Jerusalem October 20, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

The Palestinian Authority has honored those who perpetrate stabbing attacks against Jews as “heroes” and “martyrs”—despite the fact that victims of those attacks are almost always small children, old women, and other innocent civilians. Even worse, the justification for these terrorist atrocities is suppression of religious liberty—not its defense.

On Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, site of the ancient Temples described in the Bible, only Moslems are allowed to pray; any worship or prayer by Jews or Christians is strictly forbidden, with prayer books and hymnals confiscated or destroyed by Islamic authorities.

The present Palestinian rage has nothing to do with defending Al Aqsa Mosque, which has never been violated or threatened, but with worries that some Jews and Christians might someday say their own prayers nearby. Meanwhile, the Israeli government has constantly re-affirmed its commitment to the status quo with its current ban on non-Moslem prayers.

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The West discarded traditional Christianity and embraced atheism (and all of the subsequent associated -isms such as philosophical relativism, religious pluralism, post modern revisionism, etc…) and immorality (resulting in enormous negative sociological and socio-economic consequences in western societies). As a result, western nations have become increasingly dissipate, debt-ridden, and are suffering decline. To put it bluntly, western civilization is in a state of rapid decline and rushing toward eventual civilization and population replacement.

“On Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, site of the ancient Temples described in the Bible, only Moslems are allowed to pray.” This is misleading, because when we passed through the Occupied Territories and into Jerusalem in 2000, there was no problem for us (Christians and some Jews) visiting al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock. We had to be respectful, and not give offense to Jordan, which administers the site. The ultra Zionists “visiting” recently and provoking this latest Intifada were anything but respectful. The al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock belong to the Muslims, just like St. Peter’s and St. Patrick’s and the Vatican belong to the Catholic church,
and that’s it.

“The present Palestinian rage has nothing to do with defending Al Aqsa Mosque, which has never been violated or threatened.” This is obviously untrue. The mosque has been shot up by Jewish terrorists several times. We saw the bullet holes and blood-stained tapestries and carpet when we were in there. The latest version of these Jewish terrorists visited with the same intention.
They intended to provoke resistance, they succeeded beyond their wildest hopes, and pulled the Likud government along with them, in the hope of provoking more repression and crackdown.

Anyway, the whole main argument here is specious and erroneous. There is no organized incitement from the Palestinian leadership here. The attacks and reprisals are spontaneous, and fueled by social media, on both sides. This includes an increasingly out-of-control violent settler movement. It is approaching, nay it is, tribal warfare of a most savage nature, and will tear the Jewish state apart internally.

Insistence on blaming the weak present Palestinian leadership or the Grand Mufti for this is
pointless and accomplishes nothing from a practical perspective, unless the intent is to provoke an all-out race war. As usual, the US Congress has done what it is told to, and passed the usual pro forma condemnations of Abbas and the weak Palestinian leadership. But this is increasingly
bad politics, even in the USA. Nobody respects Congress. Period.

An increasing number of prominent and authoritative Jews here in the United States are condemning the Netanyahu government and calling for BDS for all of Israel and withdrawing all American financial and military aid to Israel; witness editorials and opinions every day from the NYTimes and Washington Post, usually apologists for Israel. They are fed up, like the rest of us.

These events are going to have the effect of strengthening the BDS movement on American
campuses and causing the majority of Americans to reject unconditionally supporting and funding the Jewish state of Netanyahu and the settlers.

Of course it would be inappropriate for Jews or Christians to pray inside al Aqsa or the Dome of the Rock, and most religious Jews would never enter into premises that are sacred to other faiths — certainly not with the intention of leading prayer services there.

But the Waqf prohibition on prayer on the Temple Mount doesn’t merely extend to the premises of the two mosques; it covers all 37 acres of the Temple Mount platform. I have led groups of Jewish and Christian tourists to the area on several occaisons and each time we were assigned an officious Palestinian “minder” who made sure that no prayers were recited, and no hymns were sung, either publicly or privately, anywhere in the Temple Mount area. On one occasion, a hymnal was confiscated from one lady from Texas who had dared to take it out while silently mouthing hymns. On no occasion have the members of our tours ever ventured anywhere onto the grounds of either al Aqsa or the Dome of the Rock, let alone entered the sacred sites themselves.

In fact, even the scurrilous rumor that has provoked so much violence — that Jews are hatching a secret plan to “divide” the Temple Mount — makes it clear that there has never been an organized Israeli effort to violate exclusive Muslim control over Muslim shrines. But there has been a long-standing Islamic effort to deny Jewish access to Jewish sacred sites — including the Western Wall. During Jordanian rule of the Old City (1948-67), Jewish prayer or visitation was strictly fordidden, while more than a dozen historic synagogues were totally destroyed in the Jewish Quarter. Most recently, Palestinians attempted (but failed) to get UNESCO to include the Western Wall — the most important jewish religious site on earth – as part of the Muslim “Noble Sanctuary” in which prayers from any other faith continue to be banned.

It’s bad enough that the Israeli government has long accepted that ban. It’s even worse that they get no credit for doing so, in the name of soothing the murderous, Islamo-supremist psychosis found in elements of the Palestinian leadership.

Thank you for your reply, Mr. Medved, and thanks for sharing your anecdote about leading tourists onto the Noble Sanctuary, although you state that neither you or your groups of tourists actually entered into either the Dome of the Rock or the al-Aqsa mosque. We did so, and touched the Rock itself, and entered al-Aqsa mosque, where, as I stated, the aftermath of previous Jewish terrorist attacks was apparent. I am not at all sympathetic to the presumably christian Zionist lady from Texas who took out her hymnal. She should have known better, and her behavior is analogous to somebody coming into St. Peter’s or St. Patrick’s in ethnic dress and dovening conspicuously. A provocative intentional disrespect.

There is obvious Islamo-supremacist pathology, in Occupied Palestine and widely throughout the Middle East. This is matched by the Jewish supremacism and violence of the settler movement and the Kahanists and allied movements, now with official representation in the Israeli government through Jewish Home and even more rabid armed Jewish extremist groups, and the backing of a majority of the Israeli voters.

I have read that some christian Zionists have gone so far as to take up arms in the Occupied Territories, in alliance with the settlers and Kahanists.

Personally, I would not want to give material or spiritual support to the Jewish supremacists in Israel, America, or anywhere, any more than I would support violent Islamic terrorists in Palestine or anywhere in the world. That seems a natural human response, let alone one of classical orthodox Christianity.

Mr. Peres has stated that the turmoil is tending toward an interminable hopeless genocidal war. He does not see any way out. Do you?

Nani • Oct 27, 2015 at 7:20 pm

I confess that prior to 9/11, I didn’t know or care to know about Israel, Palestine, or terrorism. The hate of the Palestinians are ridiculous and the fact that there are people who actually defend this is crazy. The scary thing is that there are those in America who would try to justify this action against US.